PIIM IS A RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITY AT THE NEW SCHOOL © 2009 PARSONS JOURNAL FOR INFORMATION MAPPING AND PARSONS INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION MAPPING 68 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10011 THE PARSONS INSTITUTE FOR INFORMATION MAPPING 212 229 6825 piim.newschool.edu KEYWORDS Ambient displays, awareness displays, calm technology, emotional design, multi-modal displays, presence indication, ubiquitous computing, user experience ABSTRACT In this paper we present our research into the next generation of calm technologies utilizing information visualization where data is not rendered as graphs, charts, or diagrams on the screen, but as a sensual experience in physical space. It introduces a number of examples to establish the context and relevance for communication design and proceeds with presenting our current research framework in which the social activity of visiting a website is visualized in real-time, in the form of a natural and sensual display. Te paper argues that a mediator between us and an overly intrusive Social Media such as Twitter, Friendfeed, and the approaching “realtime web” is needed. Tis mediator should have minimal and reduced cues of expression while not sacrifcing the warm and personal voice of a web-blog. “Attractive things work better.” 1 — Donald Norman INTRODUCTION In 1991, Marc Weiser wrote, “Te most profound technologies are those that disappear. Tey weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.” 2 With this idea, the concept of ubiquitous computing emerged — a world of “intelligent” objects exchanging data with one another and in which this network of objects superseded a centralized computer. Another idea that Weiser introduced was that of information being displayed at the periphery of percep- tion, and thus distinguishing between a foreground and a background for digital information. He used Natalie Jeremijenko’s Dangling String 3 as an example of what he described as “calm technology.” Te artist attached an 8-foot-long plastic string to a small electric motor fxed to the ceiling, which was in turn connected to the Ethernet. By visibly and audibly spinning around at diferent speeds in the hallway the string indicated the volume of ethernet trafc. From this example, Weiser concluded that digital information did not necessarily have to be confned to a computer screen but could include everyday objects, and Calm Technologies 2.0: Visualising Social Data as an Experience in Physical Space MICHAEL HOHL, PHD he described this application as “fun and useful.” Tese “calm technologies,” he wrote, were possibly the “key chal- lenge in technology design for the next decade.” He argues for a growing need for calm technologies as a result of in- formation technology ofen being the enemy of calm: with mobile phones, email, pagers, and the web inundating us with information. He observed that the diference lay in the way in which each engages our attention. In particular, his association of information technologies becoming “fun and useful” was a prediction for future developments. Weiser’s concepts of ubiquitous computing and peripheral perception were later explored by Hiroshi Ishii and the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. Here the terms tangible bits, tangible computing and ambient media were coined. Ambient media 4 were seam- less interfaces integrating people and digital information through interactive objects. In the process, this led to research into ambient displays that could convey more complex information then something like the dangling string. Tese ambient displays reside in the background, similar to a clock on the wall at the periphery of human perception, not interrupting the attention of humans, but available when needed. Since then, the design of information technologies has moved on. Media theorist Lev Manovich observes, in retrospect, that instead of the computer becoming invisible, as Weiser had predicted, the opposite has taken place. Today, according to Manovich, we are surrounded by interactive devices such as laptops, mp3 players, mobile phones, and handhelds yet our interaction with them has changed. It is “treated as an event... a carefully orchestrat- ed experience,” resulting in a “theatrization” of informa- tion technology design. 5 Usability expert Donald Norman, advocating “sim- plicity” in the past, also modifed his attitude towards the afordances of information design by dedicating an entire book to Emotional Design in which he reasons why “attractive things work better.” 6 It appears that within the last decade the principles underlying the interaction design of information technol- ogy have become much less about calmness and invisibil- ity, than about visibly celebrating the interaction with the device itself. While being marketed via the rational argu- ment of usefulness, most consumers will associate their mobiles with being social, aesthetic, and fun, especially since mobile devices have become closely interwoven with social media, the Internet, and Web 2.0 services.